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Appearance and Character

Maelys had a grotesquely huge torso and arms. He had a second head sprouting from his neck, no bigger than a child's fist.[1][4] He was inhumanly strong, able to kill a destrier with a single punch, and tear a man's head clean off his shoulders. He had a savage nature.[1]

Maelys grew up in exile in Essos, and eventually became a kinslayer deliberately, when he fought his own cousin, Daemon, for command of the Golden Company. Maelys killed Daemon's destrier, and then twisted Daemon's head until he tore it from his shoulders. Following Daemon's death, Maelys assumed command of the Golden Company.[1]

In 258 AC, Maelys gathered with eight other outlaws, exiles and sellsword captains beneath the Tree of Crowns in the Disputed Lands in Essos. There, they formed an alliance called the Band of Nine, promising to aid each other in carving out a kingdom for each member. The Band of Nine pledged to help Maelys in conquering the Seven Kingdoms.[6] While it was generally believed that the Band of Nine would founder in Essos,[6][1] they managed to sack and take Tyrosh, and seize the Stepstones, which made them a real threat to Westeros, while Maelys declared himself to be King Maelys I Blackfyre.[1]

At the camp of the Golden Company, Jon Connington sees that the captain-general's tent is surrounded by a ring of pikes topped with the gilded skulls of previous captain-generals. Maelys's skull is larger than the rest, grotesquely malformed, and below it is a second, fist-sized skull, that of Maelys's nameless twin brother.[4]

Barristan Selmy recalls that King Jaehaerys II Targaryen had granted him the white cloak of the Kingsguard after he slew Maelys Blackfyre during the War of the Ninepenny Kings.[8]